McIntosh may be one of the better-known apple varieties in the Northeast. (Maybe of the world?) But did you know it’s a local success story?

The Wikipedia entry on John McIntosh says he was born in 1777 to a Loyalist family living in New York’s Mohawk Valley. This page with two Ontario historical plaques states John McIntosh came to what was then Upper Canada in 1796, settling near present-day Dundela, Ontario. According to the Wikipedia article,

While clearing his property, McIntosh discovered a number of seedling apple trees growing wild. He transplanted them to his garden, and by the following year only one had survived. Several years later, the tree was producing the crisp, delicious fruit that is now well known. The discoverer eventually dubbed it the ‘McIntosh Red’, which is still the apple’s official name.

McIntosh farmed the original property until his death, sometime between September 19, 1845 and January 10, 1846